Absinthe
is a strong alcoholic beverage (60-75% alcohol) that derives its
distinctive bitter taste from wormwood (an herb), and is mixed with
distilled liquor, such as brandy, and other herbs and spices. In
the nineteenth century, the yellowish-green drink became popular in
Europe, particularly France, and in American cities. Its hallucinogenic
properties made it chic among poets, writers, and artists, prompting one
scholar to label it "the cocaine of the nineteenth
century." In the early-twentieth century, absinthe was widely
banned because of fears that it severely impaired the physical and
mental health of its users, as well as the morality and social fabric of
nations.

Here, the cartoonist shows how one of the "gilded
youth" who is a habitual imbiber of absinthe deteriorates rapidly
in health from a robust athlete to a prematurely aged addict.
Fellow cartoonist W. A. Rogers later observed that in the early 1870s
artist Gray Parker, "liked his one small glass of absinthe, which
he took with great precision, and ... endless cigarettes..."
In which case, Parker may have reformed his habit by the time the
featured cartoon was published in 1883, or he was simply criticizing
those who did not drink absinthe in moderation.

The
use of wormwood leaves combined with wine or other alcoholic beverages
is ancient, with references to it appearing in the Bible, Egyptian
papyri, and other old texts. Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher and
mathematician (582-500 B.C.) claimed it eased childbirth, while
Hippocrates, the Greek "father of medicine" (460-377 B.C.),
recommended it for a number of ailments, including anemia, menstrual
pain, and rheumatism. In the first century A.D., the champions of
Roman chariot races drank an absinthe concoction to remind them that
every victory is mingled with bitterness. In fourteenth-century
France it was used to facilitate human digestion, and in
seventeenth-century England wormwood was spread throughout houses to
repel vermin. By the next century, it was considered a medical
cure-all.

The precise origin of absinthe's
transformation from a medical remedy to an intoxicating beverage is
uncertain. Advertisements for an absinthe liquor appear in the
late-eighteenth century in Switzerland. By 1805, Henri-Louis
Pernod had opened a distillery in France, and the Pernod brand
thereafter became the leading label for absinthe, although many rival
companies competed in the expanding and lucrative market. In the
mid-1840s, French troops fighting in Algeria were given absinthe rations
to prevent various fevers (a practice continued into World War I), and
they returned home with the habit. In 1858, absinthe drinking was
so common in France that Harper's Weekly called it "a French
institution," although primarily identifying it with military men.

The practice soon spread throughout French society. In 1874, the
French consumed 700,000 liters of absinthe per year, a number that
reportedly rose to 36 million by 1910 (a greater amount than the rest of
Europe combined). Parisians spoke of the "green hour"
during which people sat in sidewalk cafes sipping absinthe. Poets
like Arthur Rimbaud wrote poetry while intoxicated with the liquor,
while artists Edgar Degas and Vincent Van Gogh memorialized the rituals
of absinthe drinking in several paintings. (Most drinkers used a
special glass topped by a spoon from which a sugar cube in water slowly
melted into the beverage.)

Absinthe appeared in New Orleans, America's "Little Paris,"
as early as the 1830s. The Absinthe Room in the city's French
Quarter became a hotspot attracting noted celebrities, such as Americans
Walt Whitman and General P. G. T. Beauregard and foreign visitors Oscar
Wilde of Britain and Grand Duke Alexis of Russia. Absinthe
drinking became the vogue in other major American cities, New York
(which had a restaurant named the Absinthe House), Philadelphia,
Chicago, and San Francisco. In the United States the practice was
also associated with the bohemian culture of artists and their trendy
(and often wealthy) imitators.

At the same time that absinthe's popularity was spreading, physicians
began warning about its ill effects on the user's mental and physical
health. The drink was blamed for causing convulsions,
hallucinations, birth defects, tuberculosis, insanity, and
criminality. A leading critic was Dr. Valentin Magnan, a respected
French physician and researcher, who, beginning in the 1860s, conducted
experiments on animals to study the effects of absinthe and alcohol in
general. He isolated thujone, a toxic chemical found in wormwood, as the
main culprit.

In 1879, Harper's Weekly warned, "Many deaths are
directly traceable to the excessive use of absinthe. The encroachments of this
habit are scarcely perceptible. A regular absinthe drinker seldom perceives that
he is dominated by its baleful influence until it is too late. All of a sudden
he breaks down; his nervous system is destroyed, his brain is in operative, his
will is paralyzed, he is a mere wreck; there is no hope of his recovery."
By 1907, the newspaper was calling it the "green curse of
France."

A prohibition movement began in France in the early 1870s, and soon
gained adherents in other countries. It was finally banned in
Europe and the United States in the early-twentieth century as part of a
general movement to prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcoholic
beverages and recreational drugs. In 1905, the sensational story
of an absinthe-intoxicated man's murder of his family in Switzerland
made headlines across the globe, adding momentum to the prohibition
movement. Belgium outlawed absinthe in 1905, Switzerland followed
in 1908, Holland in 1910, the United States in 1912, and France in 1915.
Absinthe is the only alcoholic drink to be singled out for legal
prohibition.

In 1918, the Pernod firm opened a distillery in Spain (where it was
still legal) and manufactured an alcohol beverage similar to, and still
labeled as, absinthe, but without wormwood. In France and other
countries, a black market for the genuine article continued. When
Spain joined the European Economic Community in 1992, it was the only
European country in which absinthe was legal.